Utility Belt for Holding a Remote Control Device

ABSTRACT

A utility belt for supporting a remote control device, designed to be comfortably worn for long periods of time over other protective garments, such as fire-proof jackets or reflective vests. The harness is made of a rigid material, durable enough for use in hot, and wet environments, such as woven webbing which may also be fire resistant, of a width, sufficient to distribute the load evenly about the shoulders of the wearer, and may also have a means for attaching to a fire-resistant jacket or other type of jacket, and a releasable break-away feature for wearer safety, in case of a need to remove the controller and/or jacket rapidly. In the case of a utility belt designed to be attached to a jacket, the shoulder straps are permanently or releasably attached to a belt that is designed to be worn situated on the waist of the user.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The current invention relates to a utility belt worn on the upper body of the user, with a means for affixing to it, a remote control device, such as one used to remotely control the operation of a locomotive in a rail yard. This utility belt is designed to be adjustable to many sizes of users, and to be worn over a work uniform that may include a heavy weight or fire resistant jacket. This utility belt may fit over the jacket and comprise a means for attaching it to another piece of clothing, such as a jacket, with mating attachment means, in particular a fire resistant jacket that may be used in situations where close proximity to high temperature, molten metal or flame is likely. The belt may also be designed in such a way as to be worn over a garment without attaching to said garment. The utility belt is designed to comfortably hold a remote control unit within easy access at the front of the body of the wearer, so that the user may operate the remote control to operate a device from a distance, while still having hands free to provide balance, maneuver around and on equipment, and conduct other tasks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Harnesses and utility belts have been provided for in the art to carry objects, including living creatures about the body of a user. Much of the prior art related to carrying objects or tools for use, is designed to keep the tools out of the way of the user until they are ready to be used. Examples of these harnesses or belts can been seen in for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,413; U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,575; U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,661; U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,609; U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,558; U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,126, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,401; U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,863 and U.S. Pat. No. 770,761 for carrying firearms, tools, for example on a belt, pouches for carrying small items such as phones or ammunition off to the sides of the wearers body, harnesses for holding items on the back of a wearers body for freedom of movement, eg those designed to carry water for consumption, tools for use during long distance sporting events, diving harnesses designed to carry tanks of gas for breathing under water, eg U.S. Pat. No. 6,755,594, and weights to control buoyancy, and the like. There have also been designed harnesses that wrap the shoulders of the wearer, and typically ride higher and to the side of the body to carry concealed firearms for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,784. There have also been utility belts designed that cross the body on a diagonal, to hold for example a small child cradled to its caregiver as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,252214 or with a pouch designed with leg openings to hold a small child at the front or back of a caregiver. Harnesses are also used as integral parts of backpacks designed for long camping and hiking trips to support the weight of supplies, as in EP 0350841. There have also been designed harnesses to hold portable computers at the front of the users body to enable the user to operate a computer without the use of a desk or table, these designs as described, have a strap that extends around the next of the wearer, having a disadvantage of causing neck strain if worn or used for long periods. Other inventions have sought to address this by providing a collapsible pole to support the computer, but the user must remain stationary while using the device in that case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the current invention is to provide a utility belt which is designed to be comfortably worn for a typical 8-12 hour shift, while supporting a remote control device and associated devices which can weigh anywhere between 6-15 lbs. Such a device could be for example a remote control unit designed for use to control remote controlled locomotives (RCL's) in a train yard or for material handling at manufacturing facilities, for example at steel mills, ore processing facilities, mining operations and the like, or remote controls for operating other types of equipment. Due to the length of wearing time, and weight and position of the device it is designed to hold, it is important that the utility belt be designed to ergonomically support the load without putting undue strain on the wearer's neck, shoulders and back, and that it be made of a material which is rigid and durable enough for daily use in hot, and in wet environments. The present invention is therefore made of a durable webbing, which may also be fire resistant, of a width, sufficient to distribute the load evenly about the shoulders of the wearer, and may also have a means for attaching to a fire-resistant jacket or other type of jacket, and a releasable break-away feature for safety, in case the wearer needs to remove the controller and/or jacket rapidly. In the case of a utility belt that is meant to be attached to a jacket, the design comprises two straps that are permanently or releasably attached to a belt that is designed to be worn situated on the waist of the user. The straps may either cross in the back, or extend straight back over the shoulders, and attach with Velcro hook or loop fasteners to the back of the users jacket which has mating hook or loop fastener attached to it. The portion of the straps that extend over the front of the jacket also have Velcro hook or loop fastener attached to the backside and the front side of the webbing, said Velcro hook or loop fastener on the backside provided so that it attaches to a mating hook or loop fastener on the jacket. The utility belt is also provided with a belt portion that extends around the back of the wearer, outside of the jacket. This belt is made adjustable in length via the use of metal FIG. 8 loops at each side of the belt, and has a webbing section attached perpendicularly to each end, said webbing section extending above and below the belt portion—said webbing section having Velcro hook or loop fasteners attached along its full length, on both the front and back side of the webbing. This perpendicular webbing section is provided so that it can attach to the front straps of the utility belt that extend over the shoulders in the front of the wearer, and to the mechanical hook or loop fastener provided on the front of the jacket. The utility belt is also provided with a section of webbing with mechanical hook or loop fastener attached to the back surface, and a narrower piece of webbing attached to the front side, with a D-ring loop attached to one end for the purpose of attaching said remote control device. In the preferred embodiment of this invention, this utility belt comprises entirely fire retardant materials that meet fire resistance standards such as but not limited to Mil-Spec A-A-55126 rev. B, FAR 25.853, 12 sec. and NFPA 1971 Standard on Protective Ensemble for Structural Fire Fighting—2013 Edition, and NFPA 1921/1981 Heat and Flame Test. These include materials such as but not limited to that trademarked as Hi-Air®, supplied by Velcro®, Inc.; webbing made of materials such as Nomex® or Kevlar® fibers that are produced by E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company; and Kevlar® thread, such as that supplied by The Thread Exchange, Inc. of Weaverville, N.C.

The belt may also be designed for normal use, not in the presence of high temperature environments, and be designed to be worn over a work garment without attachment to said garment itself, and where the adjustable belt portion completes a full circle around the waist with opposite ends of the adjustable belt connected via snaps, or buckles or mechanical hook and loop fasteners, or quick connect buckles or the like. For maximum wearer comfort, the belt materials should have a certain flexural rigidity so that the utility belt is durable and does not sag when worn by the user. The webbing used to make this belt may be made of any number of fibrous materials including but not limited to natural or naturally derived fibers such as cotton, rayon, lyocell, kenaf, hemp, jute, bamboo, wool either untreated or treated with fire retardant treatments, and the like, or synthetic fibers such as but not limited to polyester, nylon, Kevlar®, Nomex®, modacrylic, acrylic, polyacrylonitrile, polyethylene, and polypropylene. The flexural rigidity of the webbing material is described herein by a “flexural bending length” which is the length of material overhanging the edge, when the free end of the overhanging webbing crosses a 45° angle marked on a mirror behind the testing apparatus as follows: The webbing material is placed on top of a platform that is covered in Reynolds Aluminum Foil to provide a surface with uniform sliding friction. The platform is placed in front of a mirror, which has a line drawn from the top edge of the platform downward at a 45° angle. The webbing material is pushed forward over the edge of the platform until it drapes to a point where the front edge of the webbing crosses the 45° angle mark. The length of material extending over the edge of the platform is then measured, and recorded as the flexural bending length. The higher this number, the less flexible is the webbing material. It is preferable that the materials used in making these utility belts have flexural rigidity greater than 3 inches, preferably greater than 4 inches.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. Is a front view of the fire resistant utility belt as attached to a fire resistant jacket described herein.

FIG. 2. Is a rear view of the fire resistant utility belt as attached to a fire resistant jacket described herein.

FIG. 3. Is a drawing of a portion of a front strap of the fire resistant utility belt showing the attachment of the hook or loop fastener to the front of the strap.

FIG. 4. Is a side view of a portion of a front strap of the fire resistant utility belt showing the hook or loop fastener on each side of the webbing.

FIG. 5. Is a drawing of the adjustable belt portion of the fire resistant utility belt that extends around the waist of the wearer.

FIG. 5A. Is a side view of a perpendicular end portion of the adjustable belt, showing hook and loop fastening elements attached to each side of a piece of webbing material.

FIG. 6 Is a drawing of the remote control device attachment panels designed to hold the remote control device.

FIG. 6A. Is a side view of the remote control device attachment panel along its long edge.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention, a utility belt for carrying remote control devices shown generally as 10, as it would be worn on the outside of a flame resistant garment, includes the following components: an adjustable horizontal belt 11 to be worn around the waist or hips of the user, a right strap 12, designed to be worn over the right shoulder, and a left strap 13, designed to be worn over the left shoulder. The adjustable horizontal belt 11, perpendicular end portions 14, the shoulder straps 12 and 13, and the remote control device attachment panels 15 are all made from 2″ wide Nomex® Webbing (SN #1510) sold by Offray Specialty Narrow Fabrics, Inc of Bernardsville, N.J.

The right strap 12 crosses said left strap 13, at the top end of the fire resistant utility belt 10, which is designed to be positioned at the back of the wearer, and is sewn permanently together with Kevlar® thread such as Spun Kevlar® Thread (Code FRS090BLACO4K) Tex 90 sold by The Thread Exchange, Inc. of Weaverville, N.C.

The portion of the fire resistant utility belt that is crossed at the back 16, has 2″ wide Velcro® HiAir® Woven Fastening Tape Loop material sold by the Levitt Industrial Textile of Westbury, N.Y. in a crossed configuration 17 sewn permanently with Kevlar® thread to the back of the fire resistant utility belt that is crossed at the back 16. The above mentioned fire resistant utility belt upper portion is constructed as follows: First cut two pieces of 2″ wide Nomex® webbing 42.5″ long 18, two pieces of 2″ wide Velcro® HiAir® Woven Loop material (referred to from now on as loop) 25″ long 19, two pieces of 2″ wide loop material 9″ long 20, and two pieces of 2″ wide Velcro® HiAir® Woven Hook (referred to from now on as hook) material 17″ long 21. To form the right shoulder strap 12, place piece of 25″ long loop material 19 face down on one end of Nomex® webbing 18 so that they are even at one end. Sew across the width of and through the Nomex® webbing 18 and loop material 19 one half inch from the end with Kevlar® thread 22, and fold the loop material 19 back over to the other side of the Nomex® webbing 18 so that the ends of the material are now folded inside the two layers of material. Place ½″ fold at each end of (17″) hook material 21, and place one end of the hook material 21 face up on opposite side of the Nomex® webbing 18 from where the loop material is now located, at a distance 2¾″ from the end at the same end of the strap to which the first piece of loop material 19 is attached. Sew through the hook material 21 and Nomex® webbing 18 at end closest to the 2¾″ mark using Kevlar® thread 22. Place ½″ fold in unsewn end 25″ long loop material 19. Sew lengthwise thru the hook/Nomex®/loop materials at the centerline using and around all 4 edges of hook/Nomex/loop materials using Kevlar® thread 22. Place one 9″ strip of loop material 20 face down on the Nomex® webbing 18 on the same side of the Nomex® webbing 18 that the hook material 21 is attached to on the right shoulder strap 12. Sew across the width of and through the Nomex® webbing 18 and loop material 20 one half inch from the end with Kevlar® thread 22, and fold the loop material 20 back over to the other side of the Nomex® webbing 18 so that the ends of the material are now folded inside the two layers of material. Put ½″ fold in unsewn end of loop material 20, and sew lengthwise through both the loop and Nomex® webbing 18 along the centerline of the Nomex® webbing, then sew around outer perimeter of loop material 20, through loop material 20 and Nomex® webbing 18 using Kevlar® thread 22. Repeat the above steps for the left shoulder strap 13. Put a cross in the 2 shoulder straps 12, 13 at the end with the 9″ length of loop material 20 applied, overlapping at a 90-degree angle with 3″ extending beyond the outer edge of the cross on both straps. Sew an “X” from corner to corner through all four layers of material (Nomex®, loop, Nomex®, loop) and around the outer periphery of the square that is formed where the materials cross, using Kevlar® thread 22.

The utility belt of the present invention also includes an adjustable horizontal belt portion 11 that is worn around the waist of the user outside of the fire resistant garment. The belt portion is made from 2″ Nomex® webbing, and Velcro® HiAir® Hook and Loop material and is sewn together with Kevlar® thread 22. It comprises an adjustable belt with perpendicular end portions 14, affixed to each end of the adjustable horizontal belt portion 11, and remote control device attachment panels 15 that are attached to the perpendicular end portions 14.

The adjustable belt is made as follows:

Cut two pieces of 33″ long 2″ wide Nomex® webbing 23, 24. Pull 2.5″ of one end of one piece of Nomex® webbing material 23 through each opening of a 2″ wide metal single bar connector, such as a 2″ wide Standard Metal Single Bar Connector (H-MSB) 25 from Seattle Fabrics, Seattle, Wash. The Nomex® webbing material 23 should go up through the concave side and down through the convex side of the single bar connector 25. Fold under ½″ at free end of Nomex® webbing 23 closest to the single bar connector 25, and then fold this end over by approximately 1″ against longer end of Nomex® webbing 23. Sew across folded end in a cross pattern through the two layers of Nomex® webbing, and then sew around the edges of both layers of Nomex® webbing in a square pattern using Kevlar® thread 22. Repeat this for the second piece of 33″ long Nomex® webbing 24, with the concavity of the single bar connector 25 in the opposite direction (Nomex® webbing 24 up through convex side and down through concave side of connector). Insert free ends of Nomex® webbing 23, 24 through metal connector on the other horizontal belt portion 24, 23. To make the perpendicular end portions 14, place one piece of 9″ long loop material 26 face down on a 9″ long piece of 2″ wide Nomex® webbing 27. Sew across both pieces of material ½″ from the end using Kevlar® thread 22. Repeat for second perpendicular end portion 14. Place free end of adjustable horizontal belt portion 23 onto the middle (3″ from sewn end) of the perpendicular end portion 14, and attach 9″ long hook material 28 with ½″ folded under to the back of the Nomex® webbing 27 on the opposite side of the loop material 26, at the sewn end. Fold under ½″ of all materials on the end opposite the sewn end, and sew through all pieces of the hook 28, Nomex® webbing 27, and loop 26 material layers, around the perimeter of the perpendicular end portion 14. Repeat this for the opposite end of the adjustable horizontal belt 11. To each perpendicular end portion 14 of the adjustable horizontal belt is attached a remote control device attachment means 15, made from 1″ Nomex® webbing, such as 70-6505 1″ sold by Offray Specialty Narrow Fabrics, Inc. of Bernardsville, N.J. To make this remote control device attachment panel 15, cut a piece of 1″ wide Nomex® webbing 4.75 inches long. Fold over ½″ at one end of the Nomex® webbing, and sew with a cross and around the edges of the folded portion 29. Put free end of Nomex® webbing through a 1″ stainless steel D-Ring 30, (such as 1″ Stainless Steel D-Ring #425 wss, from Seattle Fabrics, Seattle, Wash.). Fold 1″ wide Nomex® webbing over, and place free end of Nomex® webbing against sewn end of 1″ Nomex® webbing above. Measure 2½″ from free end of 9″ long 2″ wide Nomex® 31, and place flat side of inside diameter of D-ring 30 at 2½″ mark. Sew remote control attachment panel 15 to the 2″ wide Nomex® with a cross from corner to corner, and around the perimeter of the folded 1″ wide webbing 32 with Kevlar® thread 22. Place 9″ long 2″ wide HiAir® loop material 33 face down on side of 2″ Nomex® webbing 31 with remote control attachment panel 29 facing up. Sew ½″ from ends of 2″ wide loop material 33 and Nomex® webbing material 31, then flip loop material over to opposite side (loops facing out on side opposite remote control attachment panel), fold under ½″ of the loop 33 and Nomex® webbing material 31 and sew around all edges of 2″ wide Nomex® webbing 31 and loop 33 materials using Kevlar® thread 22. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A utility belt designed to hold a remote control device. Said utility belt comprising: a. Straps that extend over the shoulders and extend down the back of the wearer, b. An adjustable belt to be worn around the users waist or hips, c. Remote control attachment panels that are easily releasable from said belt. Wherein said straps are connected on one or both ends to said adjustable belt, and said remote control attachment panels are attached to said adjustable belt at the front of the wearer.
 2. The utility belt of claim 1 wherein the belt is made of a webbing material having a flexural bending length of greater than 3″, wherein said webbing may be made of any number of fibrous materials including but not limited to natural or naturally derived fibers such as cotton, rayon, lyocell, kenaf, hemp, jute, bamboo and the like or synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, Kevlar®, Nomex®, polypropylene, polyethylene and the like.
 3. The utility belt of claim 1 wherein the belt is designed to be worn over and releasably attached to a jacket by mechanical hook and loop type fasteners.
 4. The utility belt of claim 1 wherein the belt is designed to be worn over a jacket but not attached to the jacket, and wherein the adjustable belt forms a complete circle around the body, forming a complete circle via a releasable fastener, such as snaps, buckles, quick release fasteners, mechanical hook and loop fasteners or the like.
 5. The utility belt of claim 1 wherein the straps that go over the shoulders are of adjustable length and attach to the front and back of said adjustable belt.
 6. A fire resistant utility belt designed to hold a remote control device. Said fire resistant utility belt comprising: a. Straps that extend over the shoulders and extend down the back of the wearer, b. An adjustable belt to be worn around the users waist or hips, c. Remote control attachment panels that are easily releasable from said belt. Wherein said straps are connected on one or both ends to said adjustable belt, and said remote control attachment means are attached to said adjustable belt at the front of the wearer.
 7. The fire resistant utility belt of claim 6 wherein said fire resistant utility belt is made of a webbing material having a flexural bending length of greater than 3″, wherein said webbing may be made of any number of fire retardant fibrous materials including but not limited to natural or naturally derived fibers such as cotton, rayon, lyocell, kenaf, hemp, jute, bamboo, wool treated with fire retardant treatments, and the like or synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, Kevlar®, Nomex®, modacrylic, acrylic, polyacrylonitrile and the like.
 8. The fire resistant utility belt of claim 6 wherein said fire resistant utility belt is designed to be worn over and releasably attached to a jacket by mechanical hook and loop type fasteners.
 9. The fire resistant utility belt of claim 6 wherein said fire resistant utility belt is designed to be worn over a jacket but not attached to said jacket, and wherein said adjustable belt forms a complete circle around the body, forming a complete circle via a releasable fastener, such as snaps, buckles, quick release fasteners, mechanical hook and loop fasteners or the like.
 10. The fire resistant utility belt of claim 6 wherein said straps that go over the shoulders are of adjustable length and attach to the front and back of said adjustable belt. 